The Traitor Panther

Chapter Twenty-One-Nate's POV

"So that's her, huh?" Zane asks me the second I close the door behind us. He puts his blunt out between his fingers and puts the roach in his pocket. He starts walking down the hallway, and I follow after him. "She has crazy energy." He chuckles a little.

"You wouldn't be talking shit about her if you'd seen her kicking all those werewolves asses." He nods his head, smiling.

"I would've loved to see that." We're quiet for a moment as I follow him to the building's office in the front lobby. It's just a small room where Zane keeps all his financial stuff and official documents. There's not even a desk or anything in it, just boxes and folders of papers everywhere. "I'm looking for a specific box, should be marked M.P." Zane says once the door is closed and locked behind us. He walks past me and starts in the far corner, lifting box lids and picking through papers.

"What's in this box?" I ask as I follow his lead and start looking through boxes too.

"Reports." I shoot him a look. He's being vague on purpose. "You know your mate looks very familiar to me." He mutters as he lifts a box off another and shoves it aside.

"What do you mean?" I'm standing now, watching him. My curiosity has peaked.

"I would never forget those eyes..." He says so lowly I almost can't hear him.

"Wait..."

"Found it." He picks up a shoe box filled to the brim with folded up papers. Such official storage. He sets it on top of another pile of boxes and discards the lid. I grab a piece of paper from the top of the box and unfold it. My heartbeat quickens as my eyes soak in the page.

"Wait.. these are missing panthers, Zane. Why were you looking for this?"

He's quiet for so long as he looks through the papers that I feel like I'm going to explode with anticipation.

"Ha! Found it." He flicks a piece of paper, holding it out to me victoriously. I snatch it from him, eyes scanning all over the page.

"Zane, what the hell is this?" It's a missing panther report with a picture of what looks like a young Cleo. So young in fact, I wouldn't be able to tell it was her if not for the bright orange eyes and splash of freckles across her face. She looked four, maybe five. Ada Holstein, read the name. Age four, thirty-four inches, brown hair, orange eyes. Last seen near Holstein pack borders immediately following rouge attack.

"All panther Alphas get notified of missing panthers. We're a dying breed, and we like to prevent unnecessary loss." Zane gently pulls the paper out of my hand and turns it to face him, his eyes scanning over the words. "I don't get a ton, and especially not of kids. So, this one really stuck with me, that, and like I said. You don't meet a lot of people, or even panthers for that fact, with orange eyes. I'm wondering about this Holstein pack, most of all. I've never even heard of it, and I've heard of all the panther packs." Zane is smacking the back of his hand with the paper now. He gets very heated about things like this. Very easy to encourage emotionally. It can be a weakness sometimes, but at the end of the day it gets him the answers he wants and makes him very empathetic towards his pack member's needs.

"I don't think I've come across it while I've been out. And I've been to most places." I stare at the ground, thoughts racing through my head. "Is this letter even real?" I look back at the page.

"It's real. I'd put money on it. I remember the day I got it; it was dropped off by a Circle member." My heart skips a beat a little. If they were the ones to deliver this, there was no way it was fake. "Do you think your mate up there has any idea about this?" I scrunch my brow up and shoot him a look. I don't like the tone he's using.

"Why are you acting like she's guilty of something?"

"I'm just wondering, that's all. It's nice to know who you have sitting on your couch, you know?" He holds his hands up and takes a step back from me. "But for real, what are you going to say to her about this?"

I'm quiet for a moment, trying to figure out the next best move.

I know from experience Cleo doesn't like being lied to or having important things kept from her. I was there for the aftermath of Ike doing that to her.

I didn't want to tell her about this. I knew it would only hurt and confuse her more than she already was. But there's no way I could keep this from her. Either Zane or I would slip up, and then I'd be the lying bastard.

I guess we're telling her.

I sigh and turn towards the office door. "Come on then. This involves you too now." I grumble as I hold the door open for Zane.

"I'm not sure I want to be involved with your mate." I shake my head, stopping for a moment to wait for him as he locks up.

"You're the one who wanted to meet her. Why are you so suspicious of her? You don't even know her."

"But you do, right?" He shuffles ahead of me, digging through his pockets for something. He pulls out half of a blunt, slightly squashed now, and a red lighter. He lights it, puffs of smoke following behind him like a train. His words are seared into my head. I do know Cleo, right?

As we near the apartment door, I can hear voices yelling from inside. They don't sound alarmed or angry, so I don't panic. Although I did have to remind my panther that we were in the safest place possible, and our mate was surrounded by her kind when the sound of Cleo's yells hit our ears.

I shouldn't be surprised by what I see when we walk in, but I am.

Leo and Cleo are both lying flat on their backs opposite each other with their legs wrapped around one another's. Alex was leaping around above them, yelling encouragement towards my mate and booing Leo.

"Finish that fucker!" Alex kneels beside Cleo's head, yelling in her face. I feel my panther growling but I try to settle him at the sight of Cleo laughing and grinning. She looked like she was genuinely having fun.

I cross my arms and stand in the kitchen with Zane, watching with a grin on my face as Cleo slams Leo's leg down with a victorious shout.

I close the distance between us and nudge her leg with my foot. Leo rolls away and jumps up, brushing off his clothes once he's upright. Cleo finally looks at me, a smile plastered on her face. I extend my hand to her, feeling weirdly satisfied when she accepts and lets me pull her up.

"That's my girl." I praise Cleo as she crashes into me. She pushes me off her, but she's still smiling. "What the hell did I even just watch?"

"He doubted me one too many times."

"Yeah well, all that proves is you do a lot of squats." I snort. Leo had a pouty look on his face. I could tell getting beaten by Cleo in a physical showing bruised his ego. It made me love Cleo even more, and the doubts from before melt away. Even if I didn't know everything about my mate yet, I knew she was who I wanted. I knew she was a good person, and quite frankly, if she wasn't, I would burn the world down with her. I would laugh at the destruction of humanity, as long as she was standing shoulder to shoulder with me while we watched it all collapse.

God, you're mushy.